First Wins for Findlay and Silva at Monterrey World Cup

Paula Findlay of Canada and Joao Silva of Portugal won their first World Cup title at the 2010 Monterrey ITU World Cup. Findlay and Silva started in similar fashion, making good time by taking the lead on the run.

Hayley Peirsol of USA took the lead during the swim and was first out of the water. With a 40-second advantage over the rest during the transition period, Peirsol did her best to keep the distance between her and a chase group that included Denmark’s Line Jensen, Russia’s Marie Rabie, and Findlay. Unfortunately, the group behind her came up strong and fast, making her drop the lead during the run.

Ai Ueda of Japan was first during the run but was soon overtaken by Findlay who kept the lead with her strong strides, right up to the finish line. Jensen tried to go for silver but Ueda’s fast run won her second place and Jensen had to settle for third.

“I knew those girls were coming fast behind me, so I just tried to keep my stride rate high and it worked out well,” said Findlay. The Canadian was surprised because of unexpected win. “I felt good on the first 5K, but the last half of the run was really a struggle.”

Following the women’s race, the men’s race began with Canada’s Andrew McCartney swimming well to have a lead during the transition over Brian Fleischmann, Cameron Dye and Ben Collins of USA. Silva and Duarte Silva Marques of Portugal followed closely behind the group.

During the bike course, a group of eight men were up front with the chasers trailing behind them. Stefan Zacheus and Gregor Bucholz of Germany also made their presence known with Matt Chrabot leading the chasers.

During the transition into the run, Silva and Marques took over the lead. Silva soon outran his countryman Marques and the rest of the pack about 5 kilometers into the run. He continued his pace and crossed the finish line at 1:44:40.

“I was a bit nervous before the swim and had a false start. But I settled down on the bike and felt great during the run,” said Silva. Chrabot started to sprint at 300 meters and landed second place, finishing three seconds ahead of Bucholz.